MILITSIYA

'Militsiya' (; ; ; literally "militia") has been the short official name of the police in the Soviet Union and most Warsaw Pact states, inherited by some former Soviet states, such as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Considering etymology of the term and the distinctive local features, the militsiya should be considered a special kind of regional policing system, not just a translation of the English "police". Militsiya forces in all post-Soviet countries share similar traditions, tactics and methods, although the differences are increasing over time.
A similar name for police was used in some other countries: Romanian: ''Miliţia''; Serbo-Croatian: ''Milicija''; Poland: Milicja Obywatelska.

Contents

Name and status

General overview

Militsiya in the Russian Federation

Militsiya in Ukraine

Militsiya in Belarus

References

See also

External links

Name and status

The name originates from early Soviet history, when the Bolsheviks intended to associate their new law enforcement authority with the self-organization of the people and to distinguish it from the "bourgeois class protecting" police. Originally militsiya was the official name: the 'Workers' and Peasants' Militsiya' was created in 1917. Eventually, it was replaced by 'Ministry of Internal Affairs' (Russian: МВД, ''MVD''; Ukrainian: МВС, ''MVS''), which is now the official full name for the militsiya forces in the respective countries. Its regional branches are officially called Departments of Internal Affairs—city department of internal affairs, ''raion'' department of internal affairs, ''oblast'' department of internal affairs, etc. The Russian term for a regional department was "ОВД" ("Отдел/Отделение внутренних дел"), later renamed to "УВД" ("Управление внутренних дел").
Functionally, Ministries of Internal Affairs are mostly police agencies. Their functions and organization differ significantly from similarly named departments in Western countries, which are usually civil executive bodies headed by politicians and responsible for many other tasks as well as the supervision of law enforcement. The Soviet and successor MVDs have usually been headed by a militsiya general and predominantly consist of service personnel, with civil employees only filling auxiliary posts. Although such ministers are members of the respective country's cabinet, they usually do not report to the prime minister and parliament, but only to the president. Local militsiya departments are subordinated to their regional departments, having little accountability before local authorities.
Internal affairs units within the militsiya itself are usually called "internal security" departments.
The official names of particular militsiya bodies and services in post-Soviet countries are usually very complicated, hence the use of the short term militsiya. Laws usually refer to police just as militsiya.
The short term for a police officer (regardless of gender) is ''militsioner'' (Russian: милиционер, Ukrainian: мiлiцiонер). Slang terms for ''militsioner'' include ''ment'' (plural: менты, ''menty'') and ''musor'' (plural: мусора, ''musora''). Although the latter word is offensive (it literally means "trash" or "garbage"), it originated from an acronym for the Moscow Criminal Investigations Department (МУС, short for Московский уголовный сыск) in Imperial Russia. ''Ment'' is a close equivalent to the English slang term "cop".

General overview

The organizational structure, methods and traditions of the militsiya differ significantly from those of western police. Militsiya as an organization consists of many functional departments, such as the (GAI), a traffic police. Organized crime detectives form highly independent squads inside regional militsiya. Some units may have the distinctive names (like OMON in Russia) which are more specific than ''militsiya'' or ''militsioner''.

Militsiya personnel ranks mostly follow those of the Army - from private (Rus: ''ryadovoy''), which is the lowest rank, to colonel general - with only these exceptions: there are no ranks of Army General and Marshal. Detectives (Russian: ''operativnik'') hold a ranks of lieutenant at least and could be promoted to major or the lieutenant colonel. The militsiya of an oblast (or other equivalent subnational entity) is usually headed by a general. The rank name is suffixed with ''of militsiya'' (e.g. ''major of militsiya'' for a major).
Militsiya personnel carry firearms. However, their usage is severely limited, so shooting cases are relatively rare in comparison to countries such as the United States. Militsioners are not permitted to carry their weapons when they are off duty.
Unlike in some other countries' police agencies, militsioners are not assigned permanent partners, but work alone or within larger groups. Neither street patrols nor detectives are allowed to drive police vehicles themselves, so a specialist driver (either a serviceman or a civil employee) is assigned to each car and is also in charge of its maintenance. GAI (the traffic militsiya) is the only exception: its members drive their own (or even own private) cars and are specially trained in risk-driving.
One unique feature of militsiya policing approach is the system of territorial patronage over citizens. The cities, as well as the rural settlements are divided into ''uchastoks'' (, ) with a special ''uchastkovyi'' militsioner ("quarter policeman"), assigned to each. The main duty of ''uchastkovyi'' is to maintain close relations with the residents of his quarter and gather information among them. In particular, ''uchastkovyi'' should personally know every each ex-convict, substance abuser, young hooligan etc. in given ''uchastok'', and visit them regularly for preemptive influence. ''Uchastkovyi'' is also responsible for tackling minor offences like family violence, loud noise, residential area parking etc. ''Uchastkovyi'' is also the main, and actually the real, militsiya force in remote areas and small settlements where permanent police departments are not created. ''Uchastkovyi'' militsioners possess separate small offices within their quarters and maintain citizens admittance in definite weekdays.
This system slightly resembles the U.S. system of sheriffs but shows some notable differences. ''Uchastkovyi'' is neither a chief police officer in a given community nor a universal one (not combining detective, incarceration or special tactics tasks).
The system of ''uchastkovyis'' dates back to imperial times when ''uriadniks'' were conducting lowest-level policing in rural areas. In Soviet Union, ''uchastkovyis'' were also responsible for such specifically-totalitarian tasks, such as maintaining propiska limitations and overseeing former political prisoners, which were subject to daily registration at the local MVD office.
Another unique militsiya feature is the use of conscripts for regular urban policing. There are special "militarized militsiya units" in large cities (like Kiev or Moscow), consisting of called-up soldiers. These soldiers carry out simple public security tasks like patrolling and cordoning, possessing no firearms and usually being accompanied by a professional militsioner. "Militarized militsioners" reside in barracks and maintain military order. The main reason for existence of conscript police is the severe lack of personnel in regular militsiya units. "Militarized militsiya" should not be confused with the Internal Troops - the gendarmerie-like military force within the Soviet/post-Soviet Ministries of Internal Affairs.
Although women constitute a significant proportion of militsiya staff, they are usually not permitted to fill positions that carry risks (such as patrolman, guard, SWAT), but are allowed to carry firearms for self-defense. Instead, they are widely represented among investigators, juvenile crime inspectors, clerks, etc. However, limited attempts are being made to appoint women as traffic officers or ''operativniks''.
==Non-police services of the MVD==
The Soviet and some post-Soviet Ministries of Internal Affairs have also included:

★ militarized forces ( "Internal Troops );

★ department of prisons (i.e. GULAG and its successor bodies), if not merged with other ministries or agencies;

★ firefighting service, if not merged with Emergency Ministry;

★ passport and registration service.
These non-police services should be distinguished from the militsiya itself. Their members have always used different generic names and specific ranks (e.g. ''Major of the Internal Service'', rather than ''Major of Militsiya'').

Militsiya in the Russian Federation

Throughout the first half of the 1990s, the Russian militsiya functioned with minimal funding, equipment, and support from the legal system. The inadequacy of the force became particularly apparent during the wave of organized crime that began sweeping Russia after the beginning of perestroika. Many highly qualified individuals moved from the militsiya into better-paying jobs in the field of private security, which has expanded to meet the demands of companies needing protection, while others joined the organized crime itself. Frequent taking of bribes among the remaining members of the militsiya has damaged the force's public credibility. Numerous revelations of participation by militsiya personnel in murders, prostitution rings, information peddling, and tolerance of criminal acts have created a general public perception that all militsioners are at least taking bribes. Bribery of officers to avoid penalty for traffic violations and petty crimes is a routine and expected occurrence, as well as tortures and abusing of suspects in the custody. Up to 50-80% of suspects are tortured and beaten in order to get "confession".Diederik Lohman ''Confessions at Any Cost. Police Torture in Russia.'' Human Rights Watch. New-York-Washington-London-Brussels, 1999. 196c. ISBN 1564322440
In a 1995 poll of the public, only 5% of respondents expressed confidence in the ability of the militsiya to deal with crime in their city. Human rights organizations have accused the Moscow militsiya of racism in singling out non-Slavic individuals (especially immigrants from Russia's Caucasus republics), physical attacks, unjustified detention, and other rights violations. In 1995 Minister of Internal Affairs Anatoliy Kulikov conducted a high-profile "Clean Hands Campaign" to purge the MVD of corrupt elements. In its first year, this limited operation caught several highly placed MVD officials collecting bribes, indicating a high level of corruption throughout the agency. According to experts, the main causes of corruption are insufficient funding to train and equip personnel and pay them adequate wages, poor work discipline, lack of accountability, and fear of reprisals from organized criminals.

According to the country law, the militsiya ranks in Russia are classified as a "special ranks of the law-enforcement service" or "special ranks". Such a ranks are in general equal to the Russian military ranks. There are 3 types of the "special ranks":
- militsiya ranks (for Ministry of internal affairs (MVD) personnel working in the general-purpose militsiya service),
- justice ranks (equal to militsya but suffixed with "of justice") - for personnel of the MVD investigatory agancy departments,
- internal service ranks (suffixed with "of internal service" - in general such personnel is weared into the Russian military uniform) - for the personnel of MVD, Ministry of the extraordinary situations and civil defence, Peneciary service on the servive of: fire guarde, migration service, administrative function and other.
In some cases the personnel with the special ranks could be promoted into the military rank. For example if the officer of militsiya is removing to the Internal Troops. Another case: if it is necessary to promote the officer into the higher rank which is absent in militsiya ranks or in ranks of other special service.
The Day of Russian Militsiya is held on November 10. The results of a poll conducted on November 10, 2005, published by ''Izvestia'', show that 72% of people are afraid of militsiya because the militiamen are thought to often take illegal actions against innocent people. Another 2005 poll showed that 41% of the Russian population fears the militsiya more than organized crime (56% in Moscow).[1]

Militsiya in Ukraine

The militsiya in Ukraine is organized as the Ministry of Internal Affairs (, MVS).
:''See also: Berkut''

Militsiya in Belarus

As well as the Militsiya, law enforcement in Belarus is also the responsibility of other agencies such as the Presidential Guard and the State Security Agency (KGB), all under the authority of the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

References

★

See also

★ OSNAZ

★ OMON

★ Voluntary People's Druzhina

★ Milicja Obywatelska, police in People's Republic of Poland, with similar name

External links

★ Information from the July 1996 CIA World Factbook

★ Ministry of the Interior of Russia - Official website